Shortly after earning his eighth consecutive win in the KSW
25 headliner, Mamed
Khalidov took a moment to apologize to those at in attendance
for the abbreviated nature of his triumph.

The fans at Centennial Hall in Wroclaw, Poland, shouldn’t have been
surprised. After all, Khalidov has been on a tear since a May 2010
draw with Ryuta
Sakurai at KSW 13, finishing seven straight fights -- six
inside of a round. On Saturday, the world-ranked Khalidov padded
his resume and settled some unfinished business by making Sakurai
victim No. 8 with a triangle choke in the opening round of their
middleweight feature. As it stands, only one of the 33-year-old’s
28 career wins has seen the judges.

Khalidov (28-4-2) started quickly, launching himself at his
Japanese foe with a flying knee. More knees to the legs and body in
the clinch followed, and when the two combatants broke away,
Khalidov attacked with aggressive punching combinations.

With a little less than four minutes remaining in the first round,
Sakurai (24-18-6) landed a takedown. He would find no quarter on
the mat, however. Khalidov immediately framed a potential triangle
armbar, and when Sakurai attempted to power out of the hold, the
longtime KSW veteran transitioned to a triangle choke. Shortly
thereafter, Khalidov pulled his opponent forward and then rolled
him over to secure the submission.

In the co-main event, Aslambek
Saidov retained his KSW welterweight strap with a methodical
unanimous verdict over Daniel
Acacio. Judges’ scorecards were not revealed when the decision
was announced.

Saidov controlled the opening frame with takedowns and moderate
ground-and-pound. While Acacio didn’t absorb any major damage, he
remained content to defend from his back. The final 10 minutes of
the bout took place primarily on the feet. Acacio had his best
moment late in the second period, when he landed a pair of solid
right hands late in the round and forced the champ to shoot for a
telegraphed takedown.

Photo: P.
Pedziszewski/Sherdog.com

Saidov outpointed Acacio to move to 15-3.

Saidov (15-3) regained control during a deliberate third round. The
Polish welterweight threatened with a rear-naked choke, and when
the fight returned to the feet, got Acacio moving backward with a
punching combination. Acacio (30-14) never mounted any serious
offense before the final bell.

Earlier, Rafal Moks
submitted Luiz Cado
Simon with a guillotine choke 1:35 into the opening stanza of
their welterweight encounter. It was the Pole’s eighth career
triumph via tapout and third consecutive first-round guillotine
stoppage.

Moks (9-6) wasted little time in rushing his Brazilian adversary.
In the scramble that ensued, Moks threatened with a heel hook.
Simon rolled repeatedly to escape the maneuver, but in the process
left himself vulnerable to the guillotine. Moks capitalized on the
opening, secured full guard and tightly cinched the choke, forcing
Simon to ask out of the fight.

Abu
Azaitar showed off his heavy hands in his KSW debut, stopping
Krzysztof
Kulak in the opening round of their middleweight fight. Azaitar
improves to 8-2 as a professional, with seven of his triumphs
coming by way of knockout. Kulak falls to 25-15-2.

Azaitar made his intentions clear from the beginning, as he stalked
his Polish foe with heavy power punches. While more than a few
hooks found their mark, it was a big overhand right that sent Kulak
tumbling to the canvas. From there, the Cologne, Germany-based
fighter swarmed with standing-to-ground punches. Kulak did his best
to escape but was eventually unable to defend himself against his
opponent’s relentless assault.

Virgil
Zwicker needed just one punch to bring a swift end to his
210-pound catch-weight encounter with Mike Hayes.
After Hayes whiffed on a massive overhand right, Zwicker
capitalized with a short counter right hook, dropping the former
Cage Warriors titlist to the canvas. “Rezdog” followed up two
punches on the mat before the referee intervened 1:12 into the
period.

It was the second win in a row for Zwicker (12-3), who also earned
a first-round TKO over Nick
Moghaddam at Bellator 99 in September. Hayes (19-8-1),
meanwhile, has lost five of his last six fights. With the win,
Zwicker is expected to receive a KSW light heavyweight title shot
against Jan
Blachowicz; the reigning 205-pound king was unable to defend
his belt against Zwicker at KSW 25 due to injury.

The British strongman set the tone for his victory early, as he
picked Walus up and slammed him to the canvas 15 seconds into the
bout. Thompson (13-5) remained on top for the duration of the
frame, attacking with punches and hammerfists to the head and body.
Thompson picked up the intensity of his ground-and-pound in the
second frame. After taking Walus (4-2) down yet again, the ZT Fight
Skool product went to work with a series of unanswered right hands
-- each punctuated by a grunt -- which ultimately brought a halt to
the contest.

Despite having a point deducted in the final frame, Piotr Strus
took a majority decision from 51-fight veteran Matt Horwich
in a middleweight affair that began the main card. Judges’
scorecards were not announced.

While the larger Horwich (28-22-1) attempted to control the bout
through clinches and takedowns, the 25-year-old Strus (9-2) was
able to create enough space to land effective straight punches on
numerous occasions to get the nod from the cageside judges.
Horwich, meanwhile, was not active enough when he did achieve top
position.